In a combustion engine, air from the surrounding atmosphere is introduced to the engine to mix with fuel in the combustion chamber. Dirty and/or contaminated intake air may not only affect the engine performance, but also damage moving parts of the engine, resulting in increased maintenance costs and reduced life of the engine. To ensure the cleanliness of the intake air, an air cleaner is used to filter out dirt, debris, and other contaminants from the intake air.
Off-highway machines, such as, for example, tractors, wheel loaders, backhoe loaders, bulldozers, and excavators, and power-generating gensets (combinations of internal combustion engines and electric generators) operated on a temporary or permanent basis at various job sites are often exposed to harsh working environments with high concentrations of dust and debris. The air cleaners used in these applications must offer strength to withstand the vibrations expected in the machines and high dirt-holding capacity to adequately protect the engine for the desired service life of the filter elements. The air cleaners also must handle very high air flow, in some circumstances as high as 10,000 cubic feet per minute (CFM). Accordingly, these machines are equipped with a relatively large air cleaner capable of filtering dirt from such high air flows. In existing applications, an air cleaner may include an air filter element and a separate air filter housing for containing, supporting, and protecting the air filter element. The air filter element includes a filter media pack that can be replaced when the filter media becomes clogged with dust and debris. Typically the filter housing is a large external support structure with various mounting features for supporting the housing and serviceable air filter element on the engine and fluidly coupled to a compressor intake or other air intake on the engine. The filter housing for a high flow air cleaner is often a large and heavy metal structure that takes up a lot of the limited space on or around the engine.
One example of a straight through flow filter assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,778,043 B2 (“the '043 patent”) to Krisko et al. The filter assembly disclosed in the '043 patent includes a separate air cleaner housing and a filter cartridge that includes a filter media pack enclosed within a preformed molded plastic piece (preform). The preform and filter media pack are positioned within the interior volume of the air cleaner housing, and the preform secures the media pack inside of the air cleaner housing, with a housing seal secured between the housing portions. The filter media pack has first and second opposite flow faces and is constructed such that the air flows into the media pack through the first flow face and exits the media pack through the second flow face. The air cleaner requires a seal member forming a seal between the preform and the air cleaner housing in order to prevent dust and dirt from passing around the outside of the preform between the preform and the air cleaner housing without being filtered.
It may be desirable to provide an air filter assembly for high air flow applications associated with mobile or stationary engines without the need for a separate housing to support and contain the air filter assembly in fluid communication with the engines. An air filter assembly without the need for a separate air cleaner housing would reduce the number of parts required, facilitate installation and servicing of the air filter, and allow for the installation of a stand-alone air filter assembly in limited spaces. Various embodiments of the present disclosure may solve one or more of the problems and/or disadvantages discussed above.